AC requirement may hit rentals in Portland
Published: Jul. 17, 2025, 5:00 a.m.
Portland is contemplating a new policy to protect residents from potentially deadly heat by adding air conditioning requirements for rental apartments and homes.
The Permitting and Development bureau is exploring a code amendment to create a maximum indoor temperature standard for rental units, requiring landlords to install ACs or heat pumps in each one.
The proposal is still in the early planning stages and comes after a multi-year collaboration among city bureaus, community groups and experts working to identify climate and health standards to make rental housing more livable during extreme weather.
Thousands of Portlanders who bake in their rental homes during summer heat waves will no doubt welcome the plan - but it likely will face stiff opposition from groups representing property owners who cite the expense and possible investment chill in Portland housing development.
Portland is under a heat advisory this week and experiencing soaring temperatures. It reached a high of 97 degrees at Portland International Airport on Wednesday.
The city has experienced more hot days and heat-related deaths in recent years than ever before.
The 2021 five-day heat dome set a record high of 116 degrees and killed 69 people in Multnomah County alone. Another 14 people died in the county in the past three years due to excessive
"We are in a climate crisis, and setting a maximum indoor temperature standard for rental units can help ensure that populations more likely to be renters in Portland, such as communities of color or those with lower incomes, are prioritized in our climate actions," interim Portland Permitting & Development Director David Kuhnhausen told The Oregonian / OregonLive.
After the heat dome, county public health officials found that those who died were predominantly 65 or older, lived alone and lacked air conditioning.
They were mostly residents of multi-family housing, including public housing, owners of manufactured homes, as well as homeless people.
🙄 Of course the landlords are complaining. God forbid they do their f*cking jobs and take care of their tenants.
#tenantsrights #rentersrightsbill #climatemergency #climatecrisis #abolishrent #tenantunion